


Happy Valentine’s Day (but We’re Not Together)

by godcheekbones



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 10:23:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10614945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godcheekbones/pseuds/godcheekbones
Summary: ‘Baekhyun grinned. “One rose stalk for $10, or two stalks for $15! All proceeds go to Chanyeol’s lonely dinner tonight–”’





	

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” Baekhyun thrilled at the top of the staircase. The handful of students lingering around the square on the first level, surrounded by four classroom blocks, turned to look. Baekhyun had a large red shopping bag hanging from one arm. “Taeyeon-noona, would you like a rose?”

A group of female seniors at the foot of the staircase started giggling. “Go promote your flowers somewhere else, Byun Baekhyun!” yelled back Tiffany, not bothering to hide her smile.

Baekhyun grinned. “One rose stalk for $10, or two stalks for $15! All proceeds go to Chanyeol’s lonely dinner tonight–”

A mop of curly hair poked out from the second level corridor. “Shut up, Baekhyun!” shouted Chanyeol, his deep voice echoing in the square. It was a good thing school was officially over. A similar red shopping bag peeked from behind the grey panels that lined the corridors.

“– I mean, the money goes to lunches for the old folks’ home, so buy a rose for a good cause!”

The student council member hurried down the stairs before the attention wavered from him. He was in his element, in the middle of the ring of girls. Money and flowers changed hands quickly, despite the good-natured protests at first.

A bubblegum pink-haired boy kept his head down, walking past them quickly. Baekhyun glanced up just in time to catch the neon-colored hair. He thanked the girls, before wedging himself between two of them. He ran up to the boy, jogging backwards to face him.

“Hey, your hair colour isn’t allowed in school, you know.”

The student gave Baekhyun a look of utmost disinterest in his opinion. He was taller than Baekhyun by a head, but was probably a freshman. Baekhyun didn’t recognize him from his year. He squinted at the freshman’s name tag, a task harder when they were both moving.

“Hey Sehun, tell you what? You can buy a rose and I’ll let you off the hook – this time!”

Sehun’s gaze flickered to the bag.

“Are you in a hurry to meet your girlfriend?” Baekhyun asked brightly. “She’d love a rose! All girls love flowers!”

Baekhyun was a good judge of character. He knew instantly from the way those lips thinned that he had said the wrong thing. Sehun knocked into his shoulder, brushing past him.

“No, wait!” Baekhyun called, determination etched into his voice, face, the speed that he was running after the long-legged freshman. “Chanyeol loves flowers too. I bought about half a dozen for him! Or you know what? Forget about the whole commercialization of Valentine’s Day! What about a rose that pays for an old ahjumma’s lunch, hmm?”

Just ten meters away from the school gate, Sehun came to a dead still. He hunched, tugging on one strap of his backpack. Baekhyun put both hands on his knees, when he reached Sehun.

“You’re a tough customer, you know,” Baekhyun huffed, his face pink from running across half the school campus. The easy smile was still on his face. “Thanks, Sehun! $10 for one stalk!”

Sehun exhaled loudly. He reached into his back pocket for his wallet. “How many would he like?” Baekhyun heard a mumble.

“Eh?” Baekhyun returned, three times as loud and cheerful.

If only looks could kill. Baekhyun laughed nervously, as he dug around the shopping bag. “$60? You’d be a hit among the old ladies, and I’m not talking just your face. Have a good day, Sehun!” Baekhyun started running off, as soon as Sehun had the armful of roses, spying a new target.

“SEONSAENGNIM! HOW IS YOUR WIFE? HAVE YOU BOUGHT HER FLOWERS YET?”

 

  
Luhan held his cup of coffee to his lips, only to lower it back down almost immediately. He bit the inside of his cheek, looking listlessly to the side of his cubicle. It was Friday, the fourteenth. He had twenty more minutes to kill before office hours were over. Or, twenty minutes to think fast.

He hadn’t booked a table for two in a restaurant, or searched online for romantic cafes. How would it look to other people? Two men eating out, on the most commercialized day of the year for couples. They could peg it down to disgruntled coincidence, of two single men coming together to commiserate on yet another year of bachelorhood. Except, Luhan thought, he wouldn’t be able to fake nonchalance so well.

His handphone started buzzing, clattering across the bare table top. Luhan snatched it up quickly. “Hello?” he greeted politely.

There was silence for a second. “Hi.” There was a shy smile in Sehun’s voice. Luhan placed two fingers into his collar and tugged it outwards sharply.

“Oh? Who is it?” teased Yixing, raising his chin to look over the short grey cardboard that separated the two cubicles. A dimple appeared in his cheek. He, too, was waiting to punch out on time. Yixing didn’t have a date that night. Luhan didn’t really know the details, but Yixing had been the only other silent person during lunch break when their coworkers started comparing the restaurants they booked that night.

Luhan stuck out his tongue at his coworker. He didn’t answer. Nobody knew about Sehun.

“Hello?” There was a touch of concern.

“Ah, I’m still here.” Was that too curt? Luhan panicked for a moment. He hastened to explain himself. “Someone interrupted me just now. Rude.” At the last word, Luhan looked pointedly at Yixing, who was still watching him in amusement. Taking the hint, Yixing sank back into his own chair. Light laughter filled the air.

“Mmm-kay.” The two of them settled into comfortable silence. Sehun was probably walking to the bus stop from school. Luhan leaned forward in his chair and propped his elbows on the table top. There was a lot of background noise from the line. That was strange. Sehun went to a neighbourhood school. “Where are you now?”

“… I’m outside.”

“ _Outside?!_ ” A second later, Luhan slapped a hand over his own mouth. He looked up, and caught Yixing staring at him with widened eyes. A broad smile spread across Yixing’s face.

“Wait Yixing, _no_!”

Like a skateboard, Yixing shoved himself from his table so that the wheeled chair skirted across the small space between the cubicle and the window that looked out to the main road. Countless suited men and women swarmed the sidewalk.

“I don’t see her!” Yixing called over his shoulder, pressing one hand against the window pane.

“I- shouldn’t have come here,” Sehun admitted hesitantly over the phone, “but you didn’t say where to meet… and I really wanted to see you. It seemed like a good idea when I got on the bus.”

Luhan had never explicitly banned Sehun from showing up at his workplace. He couldn’t imagine restricting Sehun or treating him as nothing less than an equal. Sehun wasn’t wrong. In fact, he was sweet – Luhan didn’t think he had ever mentioned where he worked more than once before, and for Sehun to have remembered…

“There’s a skinny-looking student at the lamp post,” remarked Yixing. “He’s looking around uncomfortably… Oh look, the security guard is walking towards him.”

“Luhan…” There was sudden alarm in Sehun’s normally monotonous voice. “Uhm, I’ll meet you outside the Starbucks nearby?”

“Okay, see you later!”

“He ran off,” Yixing commented idly. He continued scanning the vicinity. “No sign of your girlfriend anywhere, Luhan.”

“She’s not outside the building,” corrected Luhan. It was a half-truth. There was no woman waiting for him outside the building, or anywhere. “It’s five o’clock, Yixing. Let’s go.”

“Pity. I would have liked to see who could have made your face go like that.”

Luhan poked a finger into his own cheek. “Like what? What’s on my face?”

Yixing shrugged. “I’m no good with words. You just look really happy. Really, really happy. That’s all.” 

 

  
For two completely heterosexual friends, walking along the streets of Gangnam was nothing out of the ordinary. Sure, they had their age differences. One was an office worker, tie loose and blazer held over his shoulder with one hand. The other was in school uniform. But what was age to a friendship?

Maybe it wasn’t so normal that the office worker had six long-stemmed roses in the other hand, smiling to himself every few seconds as if he couldn’t help it. But hey. He could have purchased those flowers for his girlfriend. The other guy had both hands in his pockets. He stole a glance at the older man every once in a while, his cheeks tinting the same shade pink as his hair each time. Bad case of hero worship, that one, perhaps.

And nobody could comment if they ducked their heads into the nearest convenience store that was the furthest away from areas where they both normally went, and got cup noodles for dinner.

“No date for tonight?” the cashier said sympathetically, ringing up their purchases and handing them the disposable chopsticks. She couldn’t see the roses from her angle.

They exchanged glances. Sehun looked away first.

Luhan smiled weakly back.


End file.
